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DRC Intervention Costs $100b

Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)
NEWS
December 6, 2002
Posted to the web December 6, 2002

By Dumisani Muleya

ZIMBABWE'S four-year military expedition in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) cost the country over $100 billion and at least 150 lives, it emerged
yesterday.
Official sources said the cost of the war - which at its height sucked in nine
African armies and displaced more than 3,2 million people - included expenses
incurred in arms and spare parts purchases, transport, equipment, fuel,
salaries, food, medication and administration.
The withdrawal of the army added to the cost in a big way. Government recently
gave the military $480 million for the exercise when at least $700 million was
needed. Insiders said the exercise in the end cost up to $1 billion.
Sources said the 150-person casualty list included those killed in combat,
those who went missing in action and those who died out of action.
In 1999, the Independent obtained information on 92 casualties, including
names, times and places of fatalities in some cases.
But the total number of casualties has never been disclosed. Although
government has promised to release the information, it is yet to do so.
The financial cost of the war, which drained scarce national resources, was
heavy. Government sources this week put the figure at $100 billion.
In 2000, former Finance minister Simba Makoni told parliament that the country
had sunk $10 billion into the costly adventure, but evidence showed the figure
was much higher.
Official information obtained by the British government from Treasury indicated
at the time Zimbabwe was spending US$3 million a month in the Congo.
After plunging into the DRC conflict in August 1998, Zimbabwe ordered two large
consignments of military hardware, including bombs, guns and fighter planes
from Aerotech of Switzerland for $3,7 billion and other weaponry from China for
$3,2 billion. The country made several other large purchases.
But sources said Zimbabwe lost a lot of equipment during pitched battles and
bungled missions despite President Robert Mugabe's denials over the weekend.
There were persistent reports during the war that the army had abandoned tanks,
personnel carriers, recovery vehicles, anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers
in the field.
In 1999, a Zimbabwean Allouette 3 helicopter gunship was shot down behind rebel
lines. The bodies of Colonel Alfonso Kufa and Squadron Leader Herbert Vundla
and the wreckage were not recovered.
Sources said the cost of the war escalated when Zimbabwe decided in late 1998
to take the war to the Rwanda and Ugandan-backed rebel groups in the eastern
part of the country where it had to build costly air bridges and establish
communications across thick jungle terrain.
Battles such as those at Kabalo and Kamina, which Zimbabwe won, also consumed
considerable resources. The army also used massive resources at the battles at
Bandaka and Pweto where soldiers ended up fleeing into Zambia after being
routed.

   

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